Egyptian Activists Call For Protest Against IMF Loan Wednesday

A protest calling for Egypt to reject loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank will take place outside the Cabinet building in Cairo on Wednesday during a visit by IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

‘We are all Mina Daniel’, a revolutionary group named after a leftist Coptic activist killed during clashes with the military last year, and the Egyptian Communist Party are two of the main groups organising the event.

Loans come with “international conditions that will impoverish the Egyptian people” and “pose a threat to Egypt’s political and economic independence,” event organisers said in a statement on Facebook.

The protest will also call for a national economic policy based on independent industrial and agricultural development.

Egyptian authorities invited Lagarde to Cairo to discuss loans from the IMF. She will meet with Cabinet members on Wednesday.

They will discuss the possibility of a bigger-than-expected $4.8 billion loan from the Washington-based body, Reuters reported last week.

Since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak, activists have been campaigning under the banner  “Drop Egypt’s Debts” and raising awareness about the likely consequences of IMF loans.

Ahram